The Consultants
Halcrow
Halcrow is one of the very few
consulting organisations which can provide from its own permanent staff the necessary
expertise over the entire range of transportation, planning, transport operations,
development planning and engineering design to achieve every stage of a project, from
concept through to design, implementation and maintenance. These skills carry across all
modes of travel, covering road, rail, air and sea.
Halcrow, as well as having staff
who are recognised experts within their modal disciplines, also has a number of key senior
staff who are very experienced in drawing together the various multi-disciplinary strands
of complex multi-modal transport studies to produce clear and consistent future transport
strategies and plans. This includes experience of the latest versions of the DETR’s
"Guidance on the Methodology for Multi-Modal Studies" (GOMMMS) and the new
approach to transport appraisal (NATA). The study is led by senior staff from Halcrow Fox
business unit.
The role of Halcrow in the study
is as lead consultant responsible for all Project Management and most of the wide variety
of technical work tasks required across all modes of transport. However, there is a
variety of other disciplines which are also relevant to the study and an overall study
team has been drawn together by Halcrow to involve collaboration with a number of national
and international experts in these areas.
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Accent Marketing and Research
Accent is a full service
research agency with offices in London and Bristol and the resources and equipment to
undertake both qualitative and quantitative studies of significant size. In addition to
its full time staff, Accent also has a network of consultants to call upon in the building
of project teams, and a further nationwide network of supervisors and interviewers who can
provide the highest quality fieldwork for both qualitative and quantitative research.
Accent is the market leader in
the use of stated preference research, a sophisticated form of conjoint or trade-off
research. Accent staff have been instrumental in the introduction and development of the
technique in the UK, and have conducted many hundreds of studies using these methods for
high profile clients in transportation, environment, healthcare, financial services,
telecommunications and utilities, among others.
Accent’s specialist role
is to contribute to the Market Research activities, including advising on the
applicability of existing mode choice parameter values and the design, conduct and
analysis of supplementary revealed or stated preference surveys.
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Chris Blandford Associates
Chris Blandford Associates
is one of the leading environmental planning consultancies in the UK. It has a highly
experienced and multi-disciplinary in-house team, which includes environmental and urban
planners, environmental scientists, landscape architects, ecologists and heritage
specialists.
CBA has long been at the
forefront of both project and strategic scale environmental assessment, particularly in
the transport sector. The mix of environmental and planning skills has also often been
used in influential research and strategic planning appraisals and predictions for the
public sector. CBA is
recognised as being at the leading edge of the new generation of independent
multi-disciplinary environmental planning consultancies. Recent awards include recognition
for its work on the Environmental Guide for Inter Urban Roads (‘The Good Roads
Guide’) and the influential Countryside Character of England project, now a vital
part of national Regional Planning guidance.
CBA’s specialist
role is to lead on the landscape, townscape, biodiversity and heritage aspects of
environmental assessment.
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COWI Consulting Engineers and Planners
COWI is an internationally respected
Danish consultancy with some 40 offices throughout the world. Of their 2,200 staff, some
1,500 are engineers, planners, sociologists, economists and other technical specialists.
They operate as a global consultancy firm with a broad spectrum of national and
international experience. COWI has been
engaged in all aspects of transportation engineering for more than 60 years. Like Halcrow,
they specialise in such areas as transportation planning and economics, roads and bridges,
railways and airports. Importantly, however, they strengthen the European dimension of the
Study Team. Their experience combines both EC research as well as proven experience in a
range of multi-modal transport projects.
COWI’s role is to contribute to
defining the overall strategy for the Study Area, drawing particularly upon their European
experience.
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DTZ Pieda Consulting
DTZ Pieda Consulting brings together
the services of the independent consultancy, Pieda and the consultancy services of
international property advisers DTZ Debenham Thorpe. The merger created a major
consultancy providing specialist economic, planning, development and management advice to
public and private sector clients.
One of the main areas of expertise which DTZ
Pieda Consulting will bring to the study is economic impact assessment capability for
transport infrastructure covering a range of modes and facilities. Area economic
development is also a key skill, ranging from regional/sub regional economics down to
individual town centres or employment areas. Of particular note is the fact that the
company have recently advised the South West of England RDA on the development of a
regional economic strategy, and assisted in informing the preparation of the Rural White
Paper.
Knowledge of and involvement in funding forms an important dimension of the work of the
company. It has an excellent understanding of the requirements of and opportunities for
private sector funding linked to land and property development, and has specific expertise
in PFI, having advised both procurers and bidders.
DTZ Pieda are working closely with
Halcrow Fox planners to address issues of economic impact, economic development and
funding.
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Sustainable Futures
Sustainable Futures
are experts in participation and consultation techniques. The company enjoys an
established track record for innovative solutions designed to enable public sector clients
consult, involve and reach a wide range of citizens and stakeholders. It has a reputation
for providing a high quality facilitation, design and training service to Local
Authorities.
Within the transport sector, the company has experience in leading both area-wide and
local workshops held as part of the Local Transport Plan process, and in developing town
transport strategies and School Travel plans. It also has a strong track record in
economic, regeneration and Local Agenda 21 work.
Sustainable Futures
specialist role is to define and lead the participation exercises – to clarify
perceptions of existing problems and identify solutions and gauge reaction to the
appraisal findings.
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Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton
The Transportation Research Group
(TRG) is a multi-disciplinary Group within the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of Southampton. The principal sponsoring bodies for the research
have been the European Commission, Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions, the Transport Research Laboratory, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council and Traffic Control Systems Unit in London. Much of the research has concentrated
on the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) aspects of traffic and transport. Results from
many of the studies have been incorporated into Government Advice Notes and Technical
Memoranda, as well as into computer programs.
TRG’s role on the study
is to advise on possible ITS applications through the Study Area and to bring additional
knowledge in terms of European research and experience.
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